When they heard the news Duke Nukem Forever would be delayed until June, many folks thought what I did, frankly: Maybe Gearbox and 2K Games planned all along for a June release, but gave it a May date so the game, 14 years in development, would get one last round of "Duke is Delayed" buzz with attendant teeth-gnashing. Not so, says Gearbox's boss.

"We believed May when we announced it," Randy Pitchford said to Eurogamer. "There is always uncertainty and we use experience and trends to help us be predictive. We are not perfect when it comes to predicting uncertain outcomes, but we are perfect at being committed to our goals and working relentlessly towards them."

After this kind of wait, there's no escaping the fact that something about Duke's release will feel anticlimactic. Gearbox doesn't want it to be the game itself. Pitchford said the delay is necessary to apply one more coat of polish to this game, which by now should be about as polished as the surface of a bowling lane.